Mistaken
by cassidyelaine22
Summary: "Woah, what was that' Without looking up you sent anther blast towards the overly excited voice and immediately heard an oomph followed by the sound of a body rushing towards the pavement. Or, rather, a dumpster. "Hey not cool," said the guy, poking his head up and out of the dumpster. Spider-Man. *A new recruit is brought into the fold and is more than a handful.
1. You Don't Need to Save Me

I ran, dodging rats, and clumps of unidentified garbage that lay literal feet from a plethora of garbage cans and dumpsters. God I hated this city.

I especially hated this city in the rain, dashing through back alleys of Queens with all of my belongings in tow.

Rolling in and out of huge asphalt craters, my suitcases jostled my already pained arm. It had only been three or so hours since I'd reset the dislocated joint against my fire escape.

Blood dripped from a split along my hairline, mingling with sweat and city rain water. At this point I felt like a drowned cat and probably smelled like a wet dog. Super, awesomely attractive, right?

Bracing myself against the wall of the nearest building, I pulled a flask out of the interior pocket of my jacket and took a swig. The flask was light pink with the words "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" emblazoned on the side. It filled me with a dark sense of glee and irony every time I used it. I nicked it from one of those chain party supply stores a few months back, which I supposed could be my version of fun.

The whiskey burned as it went down but as it hit my stomach it helped to warm my rain soaked bones.

I began moving again. As I wove in and out of the misshapen piles in the alleyway, I felt the hair prickle on the back of my neck. It felt like I had a curious pair of eyes, tracking my every move and staring me down. I ignored my most basic instinct to turn around and investigate and my training kicked in instead. My eyes sweat the alleyway ahead of me, monitoring the shadows, ears open and head down. I checked every shiny surface to see the reflection behind me. Empty alleyways are all that I was shown. So I shoved aside my intrusive paranoia and started whistling tunelessly as I moved. I'd felt that prickle for days and nothing had come of it.

In front of me, business lights filtered through the rain, casting a glow over the stone walls. Wet, sputtering and a little drunk, it only made sense that I was the target of some less friendly men who had stationed themselves outside of a local dive bar. They jeered and reached out at me. "Piss off you assholes, I'm not in the mood."

Their jabs ranged from demands that I take off my clothes, false coos asking me if I needed their help to warm up and jokes about them being so good in bed women were jumping at the chance and willing to move in with them immediately to lock it down.

The rain got harder as I clenched my fist, glaring daggers at them and trying to subtly move faster. Everything about my body language screamed 'don't fuck with me', but it's hard to be intimidating when you're a generous 5'3. They advanced anyways and with a woosh, they all got tossed back into the brick wall, hard. The crack of a few skulls echoed down the empty alley, interrupted only by their groans as a few immediately came to.

The tingling on the back of my neck got more intense, this time joined by a fuzzy feeling alarm in the back of my brain. I hustled along, eager to get the hell out of Queens. I hadn't taken more than three steps when I heard him. "Woah, what was that? I webbed up those guys back there, they won't be able to move for a few hours. What was that though, can you like manipulate energy or is this outside the realm of earthly physics? Are you an alien? Or a mutant maybe? Or..."

Without looking up I sent anther blast towards the overly excited voice and immediately heard an oomph followed by the sound of a body rushing towards the pavement. Or, rather, a dumpster.

"Hey not cool," said the guy, poking his head up and out of the dumpster.

I groaned, immediately recognizing the mask, despite it being covered in what looked a lot like smashed avocado on the left side of the heroes head. Spider-Man.

Pushing my bags together, around my feet, I bound them to myself and alighted on the nearest rooftop, gently floating upward. I figured the enhanced cat was already out of the bag with current company, so to speak. I ran along the flat roofs of the decrepit, abandoned buildings with still no destination in mind but out.

"Wait up, where are you going, stop! We're friends now right? It's rude to ignore your friends, and I'm the friendliest of friends, you know. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and all..." he babbled on lamely, his voice fading in and out as he swung between buildings, keeping up as I hopped from roof to roof.

"Buzz off buggy", I grumbled before sending another shot his way.

"You're really bad at paying attention to where I am, aren't you" Spidey suddenly whispered in my ear. I shrieked and came to a halt, dropping my luggage next to me as I sat to dangle my feet off the ledge of whatever shitty building I was on now. As expected, that lanky ass fool sat down right next to me.

"So, where are you going, miss uh… strange power lady?"

"I don't kno-" I cut myself off and looked at him strangely. "Wait, why are you even here?"

"Well funny story," he huffed out, looking over at me. His masked eyes contracted as he continued to just look at me in silence for several minutes. I was seconds away from physically shoving him off of the building. For someone who apparently couldn't keep his mouth shut when I wanted him to, he was as silent and one of those monks now when I actually wanted to hear his whiny voice. Then, just as I was about to snap, he lifted his chin and squared his shoulders.

"Have you ever heard of the Avengers?"


	2. Lady of the Winds

Like any normal person on the planet, I obviously had. I may not have been in New York while it was being levelled by aliens over a decade ago, but a person would have to be seriously deprived of outside stimuli to not know who the Avengers were.

Instead of speaking to the impertinent, entirely too perky Avenger at my side, I just glared, sending a message loud enough that even the most inept individual would comprehend me.

"Woah, woah, don't shoot! You could be like, a really weird and reclusive alien for all I know at this point. The boss didn't exactly give me all the details when he sent me out to trail you. I don't even know your name, which tells me that we actually don't know a whole lot about you…," he trailed off his rambling as he finally realized I was now staring at him expectantly, waiting to get a word in edgewise.

"My name is Kaida, and I'm not a good person. Also, thanks for the invitation to join your little cult, put I'm going to have to pass." I stood to leave and find shelter for tonight when all of a sudden a _schnick_ sounded and webbing surrounded my foot, holding me in place.

That sneaky little son of a bitch.

"No can do, we're going to talk this one out. Either you agree to come in and meet the team or you get to sit here all night and listen to me ramble about them and what ridiculously stupid things we've all been up to in the past few months. Your call… Kaida." He said my name as though it could take form, leap up and bite him.

"Okay Spider, I see you want to play hardball. You take that mask off and I'll come with you to 'meet the team' or whatever touchy-feely bullshit y'all are into over there. But I'm not agreeing without some kind of skin in the game other than my own." I lifted my chin, triumphantly, secure in the knowledge that he would never reveal his identity to a complete stranger, especially while various factions of the government and private entities were trying to round up enhanced individuals.

Spidey scoffed. "That's it? It's not like I was going to leave it on once we got to the tower anyways so, here you go I guess," and he ripped away his mask as though it didn't faze him in the slightest.

He was… younger than I had expected. Cute, in a safe, boring school boy kind of way.

"What are you, twelve?" I all but shouted at him. There's no way this kid was the real deal, a bona fide Avenger that had helped save numerous lives, my own included if you count what happened just a few years back.

"I'm twenty-two, thanks though. If I'm twelve, I've gotta say you're a toddler. Granted, a toddler with wicked skills but it's not like you're even really an adult at this point are you? Why aren't you with your pare-."

"For one thing, they're dead. Secondly, I'm twenty but I guarantee you I've seen shit that you can't really even comprehend. Even outside of all the crazy whack alien bullshit you all seem to be attracting. It really ages a person, or so I've heard."

"Oh look at you, pulling the big bad 'I'm so tough because I'm an orphan and my life wasn't sunshine and roses' act. Literally everyone has bad shit happen to them. From what I've just seen and from what we've caught on security monitors, you're wickedly talented and could actually use your powers to help others. Unless you're too much of a coward, I know we do deal with 'crazy whack aliens' and all, but it shouldn't be hard for a big kid like yourself, huh?"

I had half a mind to blow him off the roof right then and there. Rage swirled in the pit of my gut so violently, I might have vomited had I eaten at all in the past day or so. The wind picked up and began buffeting around the Spider guy and myself, throwing debris from decrepit roof and buildings towards us. All of the shrapnel conveniently avoided my person, but spidey was dancing back and forth like a puppet on a string.

Deep breaths Kaida, deep breaths. We wouldn't want another Wizard of Oz-esque incident. Again. I often found myself talking to myself in different perspectives to calm down. Anger, improperly channeled was a very dangerous thing for me, and honestly, I was being a brat just like he was. No need to level an entire city block just for this one intrusive, presumptuous asshat who dressed up like a fucking spider. I wasn't about to tell him that though.

The wind died down almost immediately. Until it didn't.

Not a minute later, the biggest bolt of lightning I'd ever seen struck a building a block or so away, no doubt short circuiting every device plugged in at that residence. Two seconds later there was a solid thunk and next to Spider-Man loomed perhaps the most handsome being in the known universe, Thor. King of Asgard.

"You hit your panic button Man of Spiders. Are you in need of assistance… carrying bags?" Thor looked at you, tied down, and your bags tossed askew, then back at spidey. Quizzically, he opened his palm and sent a burst of lightning up into the sky, as if looking for something. "All seems to be in perfectly good spirits here, no strange magics… so."

"Listen man, two minutes ago she was literally shaking the building so hard I thought we were all going down. I just don't know how… all I did was ask her some questions, maybe play hard ball with her a little," he just shrugged at the god apologetically.

"Hi, I exist too, and I can speak for myself," I asserted, repositioning my body so I wasn't standing quite so hunched over. "We," I continued, looking at Spidey, "would love your assistance in getting my bags back to wherever this team inspection or meeting is supposed to happen." Anything to get inside and secure, before I lost it completely.

"As you wish, Lady of the Winds," Thor almost yelled, thrusting a cane into the sky.

"No, Thor wai-."

Before the insect could finish whatever he was trying to say, we were engulfed in a kaleidoscope of bright colors and rushed away in the blink of an eye.

So much for having a normal, Wednesday evening.


	3. Cursed from the First Old Fashioned

The nightmares were relentless. Watching your sister literally turn into dust before your eyes would probably to that to anyone. However, while I still suffered and could rarely sleep, it seemed that the world had all but moved on. Everyone was back and grateful to be.

I never would be again. Clarissa and I, we had a telepathic connection, not unlike that of soulmates, biologically. Or so we were told. To feel that instantly ripped away from me, well, let's just say things got bloody and fast. But that's not something I ever wanted to think of again.

And because the universe had some grudge against me, particularly, she never returned. Whatever fates guided the justice of the stones had decided not to return her.

Her last words both haunted and condemned me.

She lay on the couch, fading, a pleading look entering her eyes. "Find him Kay, you're all he has now of his real family. Find him." Him. Her son. Kept a secret from everyone, even our employers. She'd given him up for his own safety, knowing that the alternative was a lifetime of experiments and servitude. But of course we kept tabs on him as he grew, a bouncing three year old with shiny blonde hair and a personality bigger than this world.

I had failed to save her, and even now had never looked for him. Not after that day. So every night I would relieve that moment, over and over again, that agony, despair and overwhelming guilt.

Sometimes, I could swear I still felt her in my mind, filling the cavernous vacancy that was her.

Thank god I had my own kitchen. The fewer questions I had to answer the better.

My official training had been postponed due to a long mission the Captain and Wanda were on overseas. Stark was guest lecturing at MIT for a few weeks, something about the interconnected worlds of science and mysticism. But because everyone was off on separate secret missions, I was in an empty tower. Even Clint and Natasha were nowhere to be seen.

I'd been living at Avengers Tower for a few days with this same routine when finally, I got restless and decided I needed to break out. I'd never done well with cages, no matter how high tech.

Director Nick Fury had run down all the rules and curfews for new recruits.

Spidey had actually been the person forced to help me unpack my meager belongings into my new suite of rooms. It was probably the only time I'd smiled since that night.

I'd managed to get out of that place with a backpack, duffle bag and two suitcases. Peter had lifted the larger of the two suitcases rather easily but still gave me an incredulous look.

"What did you put in here? Bricks?" He stooped down and unzipped the case, his goofy plaid shirt untucking from his khakis, exposing the briefest glimpse of rippling lean muscles.

"What the-," he choked out in that silly high pitched voice of his, that was actually kind of adorable. "You ran away, from whatever it is that you ran from… and you packed your biggest suitcase full of books?"

I had simply shrugged and replied, "I'm nothing if not totally impractical at all times," before turning on my heel and carrying the duffle bag to the walk in closet. I had felt Peter's eyes on my back the whole way there until you kicked the door shut, more out of playful spite than anything.

Anywho, because of all the ruckus, the extent of my powers hadn't been catalogued or tested, so it was very unlikely they were prepared for your ability to fade into the shadows of any place I existed.

In my bathroom, after having showered, shaved and put my best 'fuck me' face of makeup, I pulled one a white lace body suit, with deep, scalloped cleavage and floating transparent sleeves and a pair of nearly tattered, high-waisted daisy dukes. Paired with white stiletto combat boots, it was a killer outfit.

Melting into the shadows, I caught myself grinning in twisted anticipation and flitted out the door.

The club was packed, which was perfect for me after about two drinks. My anxiety with crowds melted away and I was finally able to give in and fade into the pulsing rhythm of the crowd. Here, I was truly invisible.

Crowds only served to remind me of a time in my life that was best left forgotten.

 _Deep breaths, Kaida, deep breaths._

When the breathing stopped working, there was always tequila. One shot, two.

Ten.

Dancing on other people, on the bars and chairs and tables. For the first time in months I felt my inhibitions lift. I even made some drunk friends in the bathroom. The sober one among them was able to get me in a cab right before last call and I directed him to Avengers Tower.

My skin crawled the entire way back, heat rushing down my spine and spreading throughout my body. Apparently I still had some steam to work off. Luckily I had just the B.O.B.

Fanning myself, I reached into the little pearly clutch I kept with me on nights like these and grabbed a hair tie, pulling my tumbling curls up and off my neck, praying to instantly transported back to my room. I wasn't totally positive my body didn't have spontaneous combustion on the agenda.

Fortunately, that's when my cab driver announced we had reached our destination. I paid him and tipped quite handsomely, as I hadn't really had to pay for any of my drinks that night, or pay the entrance fee. Mutant perks and all.

Despite my inebriated state, I was able to lift off and fly up to the floor that held my rooms, once I was in the gaping lobby of the tower..

Only one problem. Every door looked the same.

Stopping in front of the door that looked the most like my own in this drunken stupor, I took a moment before collapsing through the door, only to find an older man sitting at the kitchenette counter, nursing what looked to be about his sixth scotch and holding an ice pack to his left eye.

The man was attractive. Old enough to be my dad, but fine as hell.

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he took in the full state of my undress in sweaty club clothes and he shifted uncomfortably on the metal stool he sat upon.

"You, sir, are just what the doctor ordered," I said as I swaggered toward him. As I approached his stool, I reached toward his face, as though I intended to cradle it in my palm, his eyes glazing over with desire and intoxication, before faking him out as he began to lean in and snatching the tumbler out of his hands and downing the entirety of the contents.

He gasped, whether in indignation or out of pure attraction I was unsure.

"That scotch you just drained like swill costs about $13,000. By the way, who are you and what are you doing in my rooms? And aren't you a little young to be drinking and going out looking like… like-", he cut himself off as I slid my barely covered ass up and back onto the counter he was perching in front of.

"Does it matter who I am," I asked, tipping my head to the side with an exaggerated pout from my crimson painted lips. "But if you must know, my name is Kai, and I'm more than old enough to know how to keep up with a guy like you, Mr. Stark."

He groaned at the sound of my rough, 'sex voice' using such formalities with him. Tony looked me up and down, staring as I tantalizingly slid my hand up my thigh, pulling my shorts higher and higher, revealing your lace covered sex bit by bit. After all, these shorts were mostly holes with a side of denim and loose enough to give everyone a sneak peek. My knees were shoulder level with Tony Stark's shoulders, the Iron Man, more or less my new boss/landlord, but I couldn't care less.

"See something you like Mr. Stark," I purred at him in that voice again. This snapped Tony to attention and he shot to his feet, crowding my space, forcing my back down flat on the counter top.

"I'd like it a lot better if you'd shut up and let me take you right here."

"How presumptuous of you Mr. Stark, you're old enough to be my father. Do you really think you could handle me?" The line would have landed a lot better if I hadn't also let out a breathless gasp as Tony forcefully pulled your knees apart and rubbed his nose along my clothed slit, his facial hair scraping my inner thigh, sending flurries of pleasure up my spine, my flash breaking out in goose-bumps.

"We'll see if you can handle someone with my expertise little girl, just don't call me daddy," he growled before ripping my pants down to your ankles and tossing them behind his head before he ripped off my body suit out of impatience despite my protests that quickly dissipated as he began to feast and suck up all my wetness, tongue pistoning in and out, driving my senses wild. He had me falling apart around him in minutes, obviously more talented than any other man I'd ever been with.

"That's one Ms. Stone, how many more do you think you can take?" Tony teased me as I struggled to sit upright after that onslaught. Instead of answering, I kissed him, hard. Teeth banging together and tongues exploring each other's mouths I was decently surprised to discover he tasted like honey and blackberries as well as me.

Tony lifted me up and off the counter by gripping my ass and sliding me towards him, encouraging me to wrap my still trembling legs around his waist.

Instead of complying, I pried myself out of his grasp and slid down to my knees in front of him, palming his clothed hard on.

"I believe this is what they call reciprocation Stark. Or perhaps, payback."

The night continued on as such until you both were sated and absolutely exhausted.

The next morning I woke up right before 7 am with the urgent need to relieve myself. Yanking with my slightly enhanced strength, I pulled the bed sheet out from under Tony, opting to rush out the door and into my own room. Pulling the door towards myself, I was hit with bright hallways and muttered conversations.

Quietly cursing my luck, I pulled the bed sheet tighter around my cleavage before lifting my chin high and proudly marching down the corridor to my own chambers.

I heard Pietro mutter a question to Peter, whose eyes were bulging out of their sockets. "She's uh… she's the new recruit we brought in while you all were in Wakanda… Did she just come out of Mr. Stark's rooms?"

"Take a picture boys, it'll last longer," I had finally reached her door, having passed the two gawking boys when she let Tony's sheet pool around my ankles, revealing my slim stomach, ample cleavage pushed up by my white lace bra and her shorts that had truly seen better mornings, but still worked to cover my body decently. A choke and a hacking fit were the only responses from Spidey and the silver-haired man I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet.

As soon as the doors to my suite closed, I fell to my knees, panting through a panic attack before pulling myself together half an hour later to shower and change into my training uniform that Happy had delivered to my rooms yesterday. It was my first official day as a part of the team. And judging by the way it had started, I might need a drink sooner rather than later.


	4. Blow Your Mind

Peter had never seen anything like her.

Over the past week he'd been in the room for every moment of Kaida's introduction to the team and her new life.

On that first day, after seeing her all but naked and needing to quickly run for a quick shower before training started, he'd gotten to see her in action.

There was no taking it easy or soft starts for new Avengers. They started with a brisk 10k, after which it didn't even look like she had broken a sweat.

Then she'd been pushed in his direction. This was a routine Peter had become accustomed to by now, with a few new recruits filling up the roster, primarily temporary placements by SHIELD as they recruited enhanced individuals. Peter was the first line of hand to hand combat examination, because while he wasn't overly skilled, he was obviously extremely agile and very strong.

Kaida cocked her head at him and cracked her knuckles. "Give it all you've got Bug Boy, I'm not holding back."

She and Peter had circled each other for a few seconds before she lunged, aiming a blow at his face that, unfortunately for him, was a ruse to get him to block upward, leaving his sides unprotected. With a quick jab to his kidneys, he grunted and instinctively bent over, nearly face planting with a strangled screech as Kaida then swept his legs out from under him.

He rolled over and she was immediately on top of him, pinning him down. "Easy as pie," she crowed in his face, taunting him with a wink.

Angry that he'd been made a fool of so easily by this girl, he channeled all his strength into flipping over her light weight and pinning her down on the mat. She grunted and struggled, but Peter's hands were like iron, easily encircling both wrists and caging her hips in with his knees. His grasp was inescapable.

But Peter, it seemed, could only make mistakes around this girl.

Fire flaring in his eyes, he bent his head to whisper in her ear, "It doesn't pay to be cocky Kai, now who's big and bad?"

Her breath caught for a second as she tensed below him, and a moment later Peter was tossed into the air, screaming as Kai had managed to open her palm and blast him up and away from her.

"Not cool, Kai. You know that powers are off limits," Peter croaked indignantly. The other, observing Avengers cackled at Pete's distress, even Natasha looked slightly impressed.

"Still me, it would seem," she said popping right to her feet and turning on her heel and walking towards the rest of the team that had decided to come in and spectate that morning.

Perhaps not so strangely, Peter noted, only Mr. Stark was missing.

It was then unanimously decided that her next test would be facing Natasha in hand to hand combat. He thought he couldn't be more impressed or dumbfounded by this woman, but as the day progressed, Peter almost had to pinch himself. She matched Natasha jab for jab, move for move like it was as easy as breathing to her.

"Holy shit," he heard Clint mutter next to him.

"Wait, you mean we didn't know she could… well, do that?" Peter gestured helplessly towards the Master Assassin and the twenty year old run away who was proving to be her match in every way.

"No kid, we had no idea. We don't know shit about her. Not even Fury does, despite our digging and searching. She's essentially a ghost. But we figured… Well, after she stopped that school building from collapsing a few weeks ago, until all the kids got out, we figured she couldn't really be a threat. After all, it put her on our radar in a big way. An enemy operative would have known better, acted differently…"

Clint's explanation petered off into silent awe as he saw Natasha, the Black Widow tap out, calling a cease fire, if not a surrender. No one had ever seen that. No one had ever done that without extensive training over years. But this spitfire who ran away with a suitcase full of books and apparently sleeps with billionaires… She could.

"If you all are done staring," Nat snapped them all out of their shocked stupor, "I believe we all have training to do. Kaida, Banner wants you in the lab next. F.R.I.D.A.Y. will show you the way.

"Actually, Nat, I'm supposed to head up to the lab anyways, we're working on testing the exact trigger to my Spidey senses, so I can just show her the way." Natasha just inclined her head in an obvious dismissal so he took off jogging after the rapidly disappearing figure.

He skidded to a halt next to her. "Who are you?" He asked without hesitation.

"That seems to be the question of the day, isn't it Peter. But I came here under the agreement that my past didn't matter and I don't intend to hash that out with anyone, least of all you," she huffed and just kept walking.

"But, how did you get your abilities? Like, I was bitten by a radioactive spider. Wanda was experimented on with the Mind Stone and well… everyone knows Captain's story…" Peter again trailed off after he realized, belatedly, that she had frozen and begun panting and trembling like a leaf.

Peter recognized this, understood what the clenched jaw and wildly roaming eyes meant. Something he said had triggered a panic attack, but he just wasn't sure what. But then, as though it wasn't a big deal, her mask of calm indifference slipped back over her features and she resumed walking.

"Just shut up Buggy. And if you mentioned what just happened to anyone, I will not hesitate to relentlessly humiliate you with all the weird shit you keep in your room and write in your diaries."

"Ex-excuse me?!" Peter cried out. "Who the fuck let you into my rooms?"

"No one, Peter. Unless you count myself. Good luck getting your friend Ned laid though, it sounds like it's been an exhaustive search so far. You're a good friend. When you're not being a huge idiot."

Peter didn't know what to say to that so he just kept leading her to the lab.


	5. The Valley of Your Heart

"How did you say you came to have powers again?" Dr. Bruce Banner spluttered as he reread the data from his most recent blood and DNA tests.

"Uh… I didn't but, I've always had them, at least for as long as I can remember. My parents never mentioned anything. My sister wasn't gifted either. Which would make one think we weren't really sisters, but we're identical twins so it's hard to miss the relation, but you know how it is these days-."

"Excuse me what did you just say?" I jerked in surprise as I heard none other than Tony Stark speak from the doorway which was directly behind me.

"Uh, I was just going to comment on the state of truth and relevancy in modern day America… something tells me that's not what you're talking about though. My twin sister, Nadia, she never had any gifts. At least none that were overtly obvious. But we did have this strange connection, mentally. We could feel each other. Thoughts and emotions, even pain sometimes."

"And where is she now, your sister," Bruce asked after a moment of stunned silence. My expression must have told them everything they needed to know because no one pressed it further.

"Let me see the charts, Banner. What do you see in there?" Wordlessly Banner handed Tony the papers he held in his hand, which Tony grudgingly accepted, despite his disgust at being handed literally anything.

"Well kid," he said after a moment, "It doesn't appear that you're entirely… human. I'm not sure what you are but it's absolutely not solely human.

Instead of the spluttering and probably generally overexcited reactions that he had anticipated from me, I just looked up and into his eyes before smirking and remarking that "you certainly weren't calling me kid last night."

Bruce choked on his coffee, again, receiving what I could only imagine to be a terrifying death glare from Tony. He then shortly excused himself.

"So Stark, how's it feel to know you've fucked an alien?" My eyes raked up and down his form, decidedly provocative.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's not a good idea to poke the bear in the room," he asked, hardly looking up from her chart. He was treating her flippantly, almost distantly. And that simply wouldn't stand.

"You know Mr. Stark, I could think of some other… endurance tests, if you will that we could perform right here. In the name of science, of course," I purred as I slipped down on to my knees in front of him.

He certainly didn't stop me as I peeled down the waistband of his sweatpants and boxers, half hard cock coming back to life.

I could tell when he was getting close, but instead of letting me finish him off and cumming down my throat, he pulled me up and bent me over the cold, metal work table and set to work taking off my leggings before slipping up and inside of me without and resistance.

"God Kaida, so tight and wet. And all for me." It wasn't but I wasn't about to correct him as he pounded into me from behind, grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back so he could lean forward and kiss along my neck. The tiny sensation of pain sent bolts of pleasure through my core and seconds later I was coming undone. But Tony, it seemed was far from finished with me. He picked me up and pressed my back into one of the support pillars in the lab.

Unfortunately for him, the lab door was still open, which we both had been too oblivious to rectify. A slight shriek and a clatter had Tony looking up and over my shoulder as I twisted around to see the commotion. Rhodey, Steve and Peter were standing in the doorway, holding five coffees between the three of them. Six if you counted the one now spilled all over the floor.

Rhodey looked exasperated but not surprised, Peter looked like a nun who had mistakenly found herself in an adult toy store. Steve, well, Steve was unreadable to me. The stoic faced super soldier never dropped his gaze and gave nothing away.

Instead of pulling away or I don't know, stopping anything that he was doing, Tony continued to shallowly thrust into me and circle my clit with his thumb as he winked before glancing back towards the doorway.

"Boys, if you could give us a moment, we have a bit of an… well a test of endurance of sorts and we'd hate for the evidence to be skewed by outside forces," he jested before commanding F.R.I.D.A.Y. to close the door to the lab and tint all windows to shutter us in privacy again.

"I can't believe Steve _fucking_ Rogers just saw me getting fucked," I muttered as Tony repositioned himself and began to languidly stroke in and out of me.

"I can't believe he looked like he wanted to join."

My heart stuttered and was heard on the monitor. Tony simply took that cue to blow my back out.

As I came around him for the third time in the lab, he simply leaned down and whispered something along the lines of him being the only one who could fuck me like I needed to be fucked.

I was too tired and limp from pleasure to argue with him.

"So, uh, not to sound ungrateful but what exactly am I even doing here?" I asked Tony as he fastened his belt buckle as I reclined on the hospital-esque bed the doctor had used when drawing my blood and taking tissue samples.

"Recalibrating after being worked over by an expert, I'd imagine," came Stark's snarky reply. I honestly don't know why I expected a serious answer.

"You sure like to stroke your own ego old man," I fired right back, bringing my arms behind my head to lounge while he typed away and entered various data points onto his monitor. "No, seriously, why am I here doing all this," I gestured to the room and testing sites but really meaning my entire presence amongst internationally known superheroes. "How'd you even find me in the first place? It's not like I was stopping buses or crashing planes like Bug Boy. I just…"

"You and me both, kid. But as for finding you, social media is a terrible curse and a blessing in disguise. You've gained quite a reputation just from your small deeds, but really what set it off was the sch-."

"The school," I finished with a groan, letting my head bounce back as I covered my face with my hands, massaging my temple. "You try to do one good thing and then all of a sudden, you're expected to continually prevent every day tragedies. All I wanted to do was go home after my shift at work."

"Yeah explain that one to me, bucko. You're just heading to fuck off when you hear sirens and kids screaming and decide for the first time, to actually realize use your powers. Why?"

The answer was simple, actually. The kids I could hear were the same age as my nephew would be wherever he was now. So I'd tossed up my hood and prevented a burning building from collapsing on top of a bunch of innocent kids. And of course the press had a field day with that.

But I wasn't about to tell Tony any of that. Ever.

"Fine, don't say anything. But that's why. You showed you had the capacity for good in a big way. And to be honest, we wanted to snatch you up before SHIELD or worse could come creeping in and saddle you up with them."

More silence. Then, a timid knock on the door.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced that it was Captain Rogers who waited on the other side of the door and Tony muttered his command to open the doors up.

He didn't even lower his gaze or blush as he took both Tony and I in. Instead he stared me down, eyes boring into mine until I was forced to look down and examine his thin, gray cotton tee that hugged his pecs so tight it left nothing to the imagination. I felt blood rush to my face and the tips of my ears burn.

So much for the prim, proper and prude Captain the media marketed him as. I suppose recent events forced everyone to change. There was no such thing as innocence anymore. Not really.

Cap's burning gaze finally left mine, turning on Tony instead. Walking to my side, he handed me a cup full of the richest Americano I'd ever smelled. It was exactly what I needed at that moment.

Without turning to glance back at me as he handed Tony his own cup, he murmured, "mind giving us some time alone, Kaida? There's a few things we've been needing to discuss.

I just nodded and slid off the bed, sweatpants bunching up around my waist. I had no intention of actually leaving though.

As I walked through the door and a few steps down the hall, I waited two seconds before becoming a shadowy puddle and gliding along the side of the hallway that held the still open door to the lab. Moments later, Steve poked his head out and around, checking to make sure the floor was clear before pulling the door closed behind him. Like doors had ever stopped me before.

"So Cap, what's got your Star Spangled panties in a twist this time?" Tony jabbed without hesitation.

Steve tensed his shoulders, letting out a rough, almost anxious sigh. "When are you going to own up to your grief and stop being such a slut Tony. It's been almost a year now since Pepper left you. You're compromising yourself, you know this. You know it is so like you to start banging the first new female recruit we've had in years. Is that why you pushed so hard to bring her in? Just to chase some new tail?!"

Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if the answer was yes. Seemed like a Stark thing to do. And in a weird, twisted way, I got it. Sort of.

"You know what, this conversation is over. Just because you haven't been laid in over 70 years doesn't mean you get to pull the morality card. No, Capsicle, I think we're done here. F.R.I.D.A.Y. lock up the lab after Rogers and I. I'm going out."


	6. If I Live to Tell

There was a reason I was on the verge of alcoholism. Oddly enough, it wasn't the absurdly large amount of Spandex clad people in the Tower every day. I sucked in a deep sigh, lips curling over my teeth with my harsh intake of breath. My hand shook so hard, the glass tumbler full of whiskey slipped and shattered all over the floor. I stood and moved to clean it up, but found myself suddenly frozen. My head was throbbing and my heart was racing. Or maybe it was dragging. It was hard to tell at this point.

No, it was that I was actually crumbling from the inside out. As my training progressed so did my introduction and understanding of the purpose of the Avengers Initiative. All this talk about doing good, making the world a safer place…

Let's just say it didn't exact allow me to ignore my past like existing in the shadows had.

Panic attacks haunted my frequently as more and more memories I had repressed came back to haunt me.

I was six years old and a man was pulling my sister's hair and punching me in the stomach. I choked back my sobs but Nadia screamed and screamed. The dark dingy walls were solid concrete and several feet thick, and below ground. No one ever heard us.

I choked on the blood welling up in the back of my throat and coughed it out when it became too much. I was forced to breathe out of my nose which resulted in gags as the stench of feces, urine and unwashed body hit the back of my throat.

Hours later, I was being dunked into a tub of freezing water and scrubbed down with the roughest of washing stones I'd ever felt. I knew Nadia was being treated similarly, because I could feel her pain as well as my own, as she could mine. It created ]quite the painful feedback loop.

Finally, after hours of this same cycle, we were plunged into total darkness and swiftly fell asleep, naked, freezing bodies huddled together.

Then there's what came after. Our parents, executors of our torture, were murdered as our home was invaded. The men wielding the guns said they were part of an organization they said wanted to take us in and bring us home. Become a family and give us purpose. Neither Nadia, nor I hesitated. We were just two pre-teens desperate to escape our lives in a dungeon and to take action against people like those that had kept us locked up.

What we didn't know is that things could, and would get a whole lot worse. Not for us, but for the world we would be unleashed upon.

Thoughts swirling in a panic, I burst out onto the balcony of the communal floor I was on. Wind ripped through my hair, blowing so hard antenna flew off the top of the Tower, causing F.R.I.D.A.Y. to sound the alarm.

Muffled shrieks and yells sounded behind me.

Suddenly, the glass doors behind me flew open and a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Cold, icy fear ran through my veins as I saw the shiny metal hand turning me around to face him. Bucky.

"I'm fine", I bit out, quickly averting my gaze, "just give me a few minutes. It's all under control." I'd know sooner gotten the last word out than a solar panel came flying down off the top of the building adjacent to Avengers Tower.

Heat roiled around me, the skies darkening, clouds threatening a massive downpour.

Deep breaths Kaida, deep breaths.

Unsurprisingly, breathing wasn't helping this time.

"Hey kid, listen to me. Tell me five things you can see right now," Bucky commanded, his tone leaving little room for argument.

"Uh, I c-can see clouds, and uh, you and me, and those pigeons. And that damn spandex clad idiot clinging to the side of the building over there," I couldn't keep from maniacally cackling as I looked over and saw Peter clinging to the side of the Tower, looking for the world like he was clenching for dear life.

"Okay good, now what about four things you can feel."

"The wind, your hand—which is cold, by the way—the railing and my clothes."

"Okay good. I don't think we need to go any further with that, it seems you got that under control pretty quickly. I was taught that by my therapist after coming back from Wakanda. Hydra really did some shit to fuck me up. It's still a struggle all these years later.

I just nodded, extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had turned. I didn't need therapy, I wasn't the victim here. Not anymore, no, I created them.

I looked up at Bucky finally, eyes flashing and hardening, looking all for the world like ice chips. I would know. I practiced in the mirror. He caught my gaze and flinched back, hand dropping off my shoulder.

"D-do we know each other? I know those eyes…" he shook his head, "never mind, I have to be seeing things. There's no way. Anyways, uh be safe Kaida," Bucky blurted as he stumbled away and left me to brood on the patio for just a little while longer.

Later, as I sipped at a bottle of moscato, having forgone a glass entirely, there was a knock at my door. Tony, of course, let himself right in and collapsed on the couch next to me.

"So," he said without preamble, "What the fuck was that today? Are you trying to take down my building? And how on God's green earth did you scare Barnes shitless? Maybe I should take a page out of your book kid."

"I'm not in the mood Tony. Could yo-."

"Yeah well I wasn't in the mood to get berated by Cap and his long term booty call today, but that happened. So you're going to get over it and answer my questions. Now." His commanding air suited him well. I hadn't really seen any side of Tony besides the petulant, pseudo alcoholic braniac that was as fickle and narcissistic as they come.

As if the day couldn't get any worse, my body decided that it rather liked this new, more mature Tony. Sometimes I was convinced one of my superhuman features was the ability to be turned on by almost anything at the drop of a hat.

Clearing his throat, Tony stole my bottle away from me and stoppered it before shifting to face me head on. "So, answer away Stormy, and try not to mince words."

"It was nothing Tony, just a panic attack. You're not unfamiliar with the concept, or so I'm told. I think it's being in a new place with actual pressure to perform. Now could you get off my back and let me go back to drinking myself to an early grave, please and thank you."

Tony didn't move. He opened his mouth to speak again, but as he did, the building rocked with an explosion that was quickly followed by a roar that shook the building just as hard.

Not a moment later, F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice crackled over the intercom, alerting everyone in the tower of a Code Green.

"You stay here," Tony commanded as his nanotech suit quickly spread over his form.

"Nice try gramps, where you go I'm following."

Tony tipped back his head and groaned. "At least suit up first. And then meet us down there. We won't be waiting on you kid."

He was no sooner flying away and out of sight than the impenetrable glass leading to your own personal balcony was shattered, two masked figures rappelling inside. Immediately you assumed your battle stance, but it didn't matter. Two gun shots sounded over my shoulders and red blossomed from the intruders foreheads, one after the other.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw that it was Bucky, again coming to my rescue. I hated it.

Slowly, we approached the bodies, searching their person for any identifying marks or clues.

Bucky pulled a piece of paper from deep in a tactical pocket on the bigger of the two men. He unfurled it, his eyes going wide and glassy, tremors running down his form. He started panting and then screaming endlessly for Steve.

"Buck, Buck where are you?" Steve was calling as he sprinted down the hall to your location. Steve immediately wrapped the soldier in his arms and guided him out of the room. As if in a trance, Bucky dropped the paper and it floated to the ground, writing side up.

There, in deep, gouging scratches was the message I'd been dreading my entire life.

Hail Hydra.


	7. Chapter 7

I ran. There was no stopping me. I stole a cowl from a closet and drifted into the shadows, just long enough to leap from the window.

I materialized and flitted down back alleys until I hit Park Ave. I didn't know much about this area of New York, but every borough has their drinking holes right?

Minutes later, I was staggering in to a quaint little bar that wasn't quite the dive that I was looking for, but it would do. This was probably better in any case, fewer leering eyes and a hefty, red haired, Irish woman who kept my drink full and men away.

Hydra was just one of the many skeletons rattling around in my closet, but they were the Rosetta Stone to my trauma in a lot of ways. Not the foundation, but the guide.

Two more glasses of Lagavulin and those pressing thoughts were kicked to the wayside.

Behind me, the grandfather clock chimed five o'clock. Just call me Jimmy Buffet and saddle me up with a margarita.

What no amount of alcohol could do, unfortunately, was erase the people I'd… met with Hydra. Or lost with them. Most of all, I could never forget my sister.

Brave and stupid drunk, I left my drinking post and headed down Park Avenue rather aimlessly. It felt like I was being drawn in a certain direction, meant to be there, which is absolutely absurd, but I was just drunk enough to believe it.

My feet halted half an hour later outside of a quaint little tattoo parlor. I'd always wanted a tattoo but I'd never had the time nor the money to get one. Fortunately, as a runaway Avenger-in-Training, I had both of those in spades now.

And, as fate would have it, the shop was advertising that they were available for walk-ins today.

Whipping out my new cell phone, I pulled up a picture of what exactly I wanted. A fire and ice bird, one on each side of my ribs with wings meeting in the middle of my chest. My sister and I had always fancied ourselves the pairing pictured. I froze people out, cold and analyzing, whereas she was fiery and kind but dangerous all the same.

The overly muscled and extremely tattooed man just nodded his ascent and began free handing a design for the firebird on my right side. I was decently numbed from the booze, but as time passed, the more my sides protested in pain. Occasionally, I would feel a quick rush of air push cold wind over my aching skin and nearly groan in pleasure.

Finally, three hours later, I was gingerly easing my shirt back on, sides to be kept wrapped for the next hour or so, in case they started bleeding or weeping plasma and ink.

I stood, signed my name along the dotted line for the payment and stepped out on the street to find none other than Pietro standing, back resting against the side of the building with his arms crossed, obviously waiting for me.

Rather than acknowledge his presence, I moved to hail a taxi. He took that moment to wrap his arms around my middle, sending bolts of pain shooting from my fresh tattoos, and bolted down the street.

Fate, should it exist, obviously had a sense of humor. Minutes later, we were standing in the lobby of Avengers Tower.

Hesitantly, I moved for the elevator doors, wincing with every step as it pulled along my aching muscles, both from the walking and the movement of inked flesh. Pietro followed loosely behind me, as I anticipated. Once he had retrieved me, he certainly wasn't going to let me escape. He was perhaps the one Avenger I couldn't simply evade or trick, his eyes caught things as though they were moving half the speed they actually were.

Uncomfortable silence ensued as Pietro pressed the button to take us up to the Penthouse, the de facto floor for team meetings.

Despite receiving an equal number of concerned and suspicious glances, most of the team paid me little to no mind.

Peter gestured to Pietro, eyes questioning, and nods were exchanged. What I wouldn't give to be able to hear what they were thinking. And maybe it was vain of me to assume that they'd been communicating about me, but I was almost positive.

Lost in my reverie, I almost missed the command Cap gave to Wanda to put me under. I hadn't even taken a step by the time I was falling to the ground, unconscious, caught in lean arms.

It would be the best rest I'd get for weeks to come.

I woke up in my own rooms, restrained to the bed. What had happened was fairly obvious, considering the only person who was in my rooms besides me was Tony. And he had an Iron Gauntlet trained on me as I came to. I hacked to clear my throat before speaking. "Seems like a bit of overkill Grandpa."

Tony just glared down at me, not moving a single inch or softening in any way.

I tried again. "So I take it Witchy rummaged around in my head and found some… Not so savory things. Perhaps my stint as a Hydra assassin. Maybe the length of my kill list even. Let me guess, you're currently prepping a room for me at whatever new and improved raft you built to keep Thanos locked up and never coming back. Fair warning, I'll never go willingly and I can put up one hell of a fight."

"Fortunately for you, that decision's not up to me and would require the input of the feds, which, knowing what we do now, I can fairly certainly say, you'd prefer if they stayed out of it. 12 US government officials assassinated in less than three months by yours truly. Wow. Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing. Were I not a better man, I'd shoot you right now."

"So why are you here Tony, if not to kill me?" I snarled back at him. "What good does me being alive do? To anyone." That startled him a little bit, shell shocked enough to look up and into my eyes, where I saw my own feral irises reflected.

But he steeled himself again within moments. And then, out of the breast pocket of his blue blazer, he grabbed a sheet of paper.

Not a sheet of paper I realized as he folded it out for me. A picture of a skinny redheaded woman. One I recognized intimately. "Target 17. What do you need to know?" I questioned coldly, unfeeling. That made him jerk backwards in his seat and hastily stand, panting and heaving, murderous intent glinting in his brown eyes.

"Her name was Pepper. And she was killed three days before our wedding, carrying my child. So I'd like to know. Was it-," he spat out like the words were physically fighting to escape from his body.

"Was it me? No. I was in the wind with my sister for a few months after our covers were almost blown taking out a diplomat in Indonesia. For what it's worth, I truly am sorry Tony. Especially," I said, voice dropping to a whisper, "about your son."

"Excuse me, my what?" Fists clenched, he strode up the side of my bed, closer to my head. I shied away as he bent down and got into my face. "What did you just say to me?"

Fuck. He didn't know and I just made it ten times worse. The sound of his repulsor charging broke the most pregnant silence I'd ever heard. Before he could fire, though, Thor and Steve burst through the door and caught him as he collapsed in anguish, taking him away, leaving me alone. They knew everything about my time with Hydra. The evil I'd done and the evil I'd allowed to happen. I was the enemy. And I had no backup.

So back to normal.

Hours later, I gave in to my bone deep weariness and collapsed into sleep. Dream after fever dream encased my drained mind, ephemeral and diaphanous. Most images were forgotten immediately, flighty and fragile as a butterfly's wing. Others though, others stuck like mosquitos stuck in amber. Flashes.

Light, blood, destruction. Tattooed stars and deep, harrowing scars on ragged faces. Sobbing little boys with green eyes and silky hair.

Despite the intense lunacy and deep feeling of realness I felt while dreaming, I was aware of a deep, striking pain within myself. It settled in my chest, buried deep, as though I'd replaced my stomach with Mjolnir. The ache was both sharp and dull, full and waning. It signaled that a harsh reality awaited me in the waking world. When

I was dreaming it was like the pain had no anchor, no reason for tormenting me, as hapless and defenseless as a newly hatched bird.

When I'm half-awake, like I am now, I know why the pain is here, understand the presence of gut-wrenching guilt and searing hot shame and thus can accept them. I'm not sure which is worse to experience.

Sometimes I'm fully awake, being handed crackers or grapes or bottles of water by a person whose name I don't know, because I'm never cognizant long enough to catalogue their face. Seconds later, I'm again drowning, pulled into the depths of my dreamscape.

My reality blurs and the cycle continues, vicious unto the end. And every time I wake, my cheeks are embarrassingly wet. It feels like weeks before I'm awake long enough to realize I'm not alone. That every time I wake, a new face is staring back at me from a different chair in my room.

I come to recognize them again in time. Wanda, Pietro, Bucky, Steve, Vision, even Peter. But never Tony.

I sit up for the first time after what feels like a month, though the limited aching emaniating from my bones tells me, logically, that it's only been a fraction of that time. One either side of my bed is a Maximoff. Wanda looks more concerned than wary. Pietro looks like a lion who caught the scent of an enemy pride.

"Go slowly Kaida," Wanda urges, "you must be weak. It's been a few days since you rejoined the land of the living. Her continued inquiries and entreaties fall on deaf ears. As vulgar as it now sounds in retrospect, I knew I had to move or else and accident would occur. I stumbled into my en suite, knowing even without needing to look that they would have removed anything that would have made a suitable weapon.

I also know that, should my biology betray any sign of shifting to make use of my abilities, F.R.I.D.A.Y. would alert the others and the full might of the Avengers would fall upon my head. And Wanda would have me back out in seconds. What couldn't be stopped of measured for, of course, were things such as my superhuman hearing, that was currently picking up on the muffled conversation the twins were having in my bedroom on the other side of the bedroom door.

"Why are you blocking FRIDAY, we should be alerting the others that the prisoner is awake and ready for their attentions."

"Pietro! She's not our prisoner," Wanda reprimanded. "Besides, I wish to have a moment alone with the girl. Even if she is not a child of Strucker, she is what Hydra made her to be, somehow. I just… I'd like for her to have a sympathetic listener at first. We never got the benefit of the doubt. If you remember we weren't exactly unwilling in our crusade against the Avengers."

Pietro just grunted in agreement but remained tense at his sisters side. I quickly twisted off the faucet and reentered the bedroom. Rather than speak, Wanda simply patted the seat of the chair across from hers, indicating that I should take a seat. It was the gentlest command ever issued. I slid back until my shoulders brushed the high back of the chair.

Wanda opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off with a gesture of my hands. I leaned forward, extending my head towards her.

"Just look, let my mind answer your questions. I don't know that I'd have the strength to or that we'd have the time before the others come charging in. If I'm going to die, I need at least one person to know and believe the truth. Maybe help persuade Captain Rogers to end my life swiftly. It's more than I deserve."

With that Wanda, eyes shining, placed her hands on my temples and breathed deeply as we were both transported to an infinitely darker place, many years ago.


	8. Pieces of Broken Memories

Sinking through my memories was like drifting uncontrollably through a minefield. Tiny bursts of anguish shot through my mind as Wanda relived my upbringing with my sister, the house of horrors that was our home, being tapped to join Hydra and agreeing without 'persuasion'. The missions, targets and our downfall. My sister's son. And finally, the mission that sent us both running for the hills...

The time since then. One dead-end job to another, sisters working to support each other, all while looking for the last remaining piece of our family. And, then that day had come. The snap and dust. Guilt flooding me and overwhelming a sense of horror as time passed.

Homeless until my… boyfriend. The horror that home turned into, one that I do still feel as though I deserved. Until one night he went too far and I left. The night Peter found me. Of course in the midst of all this, you had my 'heroics' that mostly consisted of helping women out of situations I understood all too well. And that damned school. So Peter was looking for me at the behest of the Avengers after the most recent event had even landed on the front page of the New York Times.

My deeply buried need to have somewhere to call home, to have not just someone on my six but to have a family. All the emotions that Hydra and I, through my conditioning at their hands, thought of as compromising and weak.

I had agreed, understanding that I could play the role of Asset for the good guys for once, maybe correct some of the horrific circumstances I had had a hand in creating. My mission would be protecting others for the first time. Only in my wildest dreams had I imagined I'd ever have a family again, but they had begun to feel like home, in spite of the secrets I kept. Now that was ruined. That was inevitable, I reminded myself. Because of who I am, I could never have a family. I didn't deserve one.

"No," Wanda said, interrupting our shared stream of thoughts, "not ruined, just a little, broken. They accepted us in time." Pietro nodded, eyes alighting on his sister and then on me. Curiosity burned in his soul-deep gaze. He leaned forward and used his abnormally large hand and rough fingers to cover his sister's hand, which I just realized was now twined in mine.

Connected like this, I felt the smallest flicker of hope come to life in me, setting my heart aflutter. Understanding and acceptance filled their eyes and I did tear up a little. I never expected this.

"You are not the monster your parents created. Nor the asset that Hydra trained. You are more than that Kaida. Let us help you find it. Find yourself."

I nodded, leaning into her embrace as she gripped me by the shoulders and kissed my cheek.

At Wanda's urging, I stepped into the shower, running my hand through my hair as nearly a week's worth of grime was stripped off my body. I think it was safe to say that I'd never felt more confused and well, vulnerable in my life.

For the time being, I didn't have a mission or a purpose. My handler, or the surrogate my mind had appointed was questionable at best now that all had been revealed. I didn't like being left to my own mind and devices. Too many thoughts would rattle around inside my head. After a few hours, the twins left again, gentle eyes and kind reassurances.

Later and not seconds after my stomach rumbled with a fierceness I had forgotten it had, my door opened and a tray of food entered, held by Bucky, the Winter Soldier.


	9. Please Learn from My Mistakes

We sat, assessing one another and picking at our plates of food, more for something to do with our hands, as opposed to nothing at all. In those moments I could just read in his body language the fact that he had put two and two together and remembered why I looked so familiar. He had been responsible for training my sister when she failed on missions, whereas I had never had to face the wrath of the Winter Soldier and his handlers. For a year or so after we escaped, my sister and I saw his face in every passing stranger, terrified Hydra was coming back to reclaim us.

Because to Hydra we weren't members of a team, as they had initially led my sister and I to believe. We were there property, attack dogs trained to be set loose every once in a while. Caged, every other time. I let my fork clatter to the table before folding my fingers underneath my chin to support my head as I stared at the man across from me.

Barnes followed suit, pushing his plate away and leaning back in his chair. His ice blue eyes flashed to mine before he took a sharp breath in and out and then spoke for the first time since he'd walked through my door just under an hour ago.

"So, were you sent here to bring me in? Wanda doesn't seem to think so but I've known Hydra for a few more decades than she has, so I'm more wary." Simple and to the point. Disciplined even, to any onlookers there might have been. But, as a fellow survivor of Hydra saw all his tells, the brightness of his eyes, the clenched teeth and slightly hunched shoulders. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he wasn't fully seated either, prepared to spring up at any moment, despite his look of nonchalance.

"You should trust Wanda more. No, soldat, I didn't come to bring you in. You know," I said, chuckling drily, "I thought this conversation was going to happen years ago but in reverse. Did no one from Hydra come looking for us? Before they went under? Or were Nadia and I just new playthings for you and yours?" I asked, ice coating my harsh tone.

Bucky flinched at my use of Russian and again at the name of my sister. So he did remember us. Somehow, that didn't make me feel any better about his presence here.

"Our superiors were… rather distracted by certain developments and felt that you all would return to your homes. I guess their arrogance finally got the better of them in that regard. And then, with the new threat of Thor, Steve and Tony and the convergence of the Avengers on the world scale, they more than likely shoved your files deep down. Though I'd imagine your recent resurfacing has been noted by rogue Hydra factions that are still operating around the globe."

A solid enough explanation for why no one had come for Nadia and I. Another thing I had to thank the Avengers for, I supposed. "So, what happens now? Wanda has seen all she needed to see to support me. Where will the others fall in line?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, leaning forward so his elbows rested on the table. "Steve believes Wanda and is willing to work with you. Same goes for Natasha and Clint and the Maximoffs. Tony… well, he may get over this sooner than he did before but I wouldn't count on it. We still haven't figured our shit out, though I was the one who killed his parents in person. But I didn't do it in my right mind. That's the difference between the two of us I suppose."

I laughed, darkly at first before it rapidly became hysterical, but I managed to keep a handle on the powers inside of me. "You really think I was in my right mind Barnes? After years of the torture and abuse I suffered at the hands of my parents to then be rescued and groomed by an evil organization when I was barely twelve? Not even close. But by the time I realized what Hydra really was, it was too late. They weren't letting us go, not without exacting a terrible price."

Barnes sighed and looked back at me, eyes softening almost imperceptibly. "You did come here willingly. And you show no ill intent, despite your obvious penchant for self-destructive tendencies." I couldn't exactly disagree. "I think you'll find that you'll fit right in with this merry little band of superpowered misfits. We're all a little broken here."

Nodding, I pushed back my chair and stood up, grabbing my plate to dump its contents into the trash can when Barnes spoke again. "You're not on lockdown anymore. I would advise against leaving the Tower, but this is your home now. Not a prison. And we'd like for you to treat it that way. Just… maybe avoid tony for a little while."

Yeah, easy enough when you live a few doors away from the guy. But, Barnes did have a point. He stood and moved to the door and wished me a goodnight before slipping through the door without a backward glance.

I tossed and turned that night, but not due to overwhelming nightmares, which was a welcome change of pace. No, my skin itched and my brain raced, looking for something to hold on to, looking for any sort of distraction. My body begged me to take action, to _do_ something. After days of being laid up, even just a simple jog sounded like it would hit the spot for my restless limbs.

I gave in at around two in the morning, throwing on my leggings, slick work out short and tennis shoes before pulling my hair back. Then I was out the door and down to the rec level of the Tower, which was like a carnival for enhanced people.

For the first hour, I thought I was alone as I ran a few miles, lifted so small-ish weights and completed over a hundred sit-ups, which isn't a lot, but it wasn't half bad for a warm up. It wasn't until I was shadow boxing that I realized I wasn't alone. I felt a rapturous presence behind me and to the left. So I spun quickly and jabbed at the face of the intruder, only to punch… two feet?

"Hey, don't you know it's rude to touch someone else's feet without consent. Could sue you for harassing me, you know."

Parker. Spidey, it seemed, had decided to literally hang out behind me, upside down, suspended from the ceiling. "What do you want Buggy?" I asked, as if nothing had transpired between us over the past few, very eventful dates.

"Sometimes I just hang around here at night. Calms me down, plus the ceilings are high enough that I can practice some more… out of the box acrobatics without embarrassing myself and ending up on the front page of the Daily Bugle again. You know how they are." I did actually. Their constant tirade against Spider-Man was one of the few things that actually made me laugh out loud.

But I totally understood the need for peace and quiet and to kind of get rid of the riff raff. So I smiled brightly and asked Buggy if he could show me how exactly he managed to get that tensile strength in the material he used for his webs.

To say Peter was like a toddler around science would be an understatement. But it made us both happy. So we went, the past firmly behind us.


	10. I'm Not Looking for Absolution

Peter and I spent the rest of the night in the labs. Mostly, it was just Peter demonstrating how each of his projects worked, like the changes he was making to his web formula and improvements he was making to his suit to change the way he could interface with his A.I. Karen.

Some time later, as the sun was sluggishly rising, FRIDAY gently (for an AI) reminded Peter and I that now would be the only time to shower, eat and dress before training commenced for the day. At the reminder, Peter simply grimaced, and I returned the expression. What was waiting for me down on the common floor couldn't possibly be good. Peter pushed down the sleeves of his sweatshirt nervously and gestured for me to follow him as he stepped into the elevator.

Down on the common floor, everyone was nursing their own cup of coffee, steam billowing into their faces. Well, everyone except Thor. He had a beer stein full of chocolate milk that he nearly chugged as he giddily bounced up and down in his seat, the godly equivalent of a toddler and golden retriever wrapped in one muscly package of happiness and positivity.

Without a word, Pietro handed peter and I both our own coffees. Mine was an iced cold brew. Some deep, nearly dead part of me was touched that he remembered my disdain for hot, weak drinks. He winked at me as he turned back to return to his spot next to the fridge, but not before swiping another donut from the breakfast bar. Something must have happened before peter and I arrived because Clint and Sam both glared daggers at Pietro.

"So..." I began, "we going to talk about the elephant in the room or ignite it until we hit the training rooms and punch it out?"

Steve and Wanda looked up sharply from the food in front of them, taking not so sneaky glances at the others. Tony was gripping his coffee mug so hard, if he'd been anyone else in the room, it would have shattered. Sam just looked weary and Bucky... he was leaning up against the sink, arms crossed over his chest. He almost looked disappointed.

"Punching it out seems to be the winner. If you have a problem with me, or need questions answered, you know how to get them. Beyond that, I'm not leaving so don't even try." I began choking up out of nowhere. "I'm not letting those bastards take another home from me. You all have always been nothing but kind and I treated that kindness with deception and indifference. But I'm going to blame that on the whole, kindness being a completely new experience for me. Obviously, I mean everyone here no harm..." I petered off, not knowing what to say to get my feelings across. I looked around, lost, capturing the gazes of Pietro and Bucky, who both just nodded back at me.

Bucky pushed off of the counter and approached me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "Kaida is no more Hydra than I am. If you trust in me, be open to trusting her. We've all... made mistakes."

Yeah, that's one way to put it.

Even Thor looked uncomfortable at this point and Tony was just straight up heading for the elevator without a backward glance. Bruce trailed after him, shrugging apologetically. Seconds that felt like hours passed and finally the elevator began to descend to the lab floors.

"Alright team, move out. We have work to do," Steve said in his most Captain-y voice. And damn if it wasn't kind of hot. I wasn't the only one who thought so. I could tell just from the shift from light blue to icy gray in Bucky's eyes that he was going to be pulling Rogers into his room later. Or sooner, depending on how tight his shirt was today.

Hours and buckets of sweat later and the whole team broke for lunch. As expected, no one took me up on my offer but we still weren't pre-incident buddies anymore. Bucky and Pietro seemed most inclined to stick by my side while Wanda was off with Vision. Peter gave me these weird agonizing glances from across the main training floor the whole time. The kid was weird. Who knows what he got up to in his own brain.

Anyways, I knew what I had to do as soon as I stepped on to the elevator, moments after everyone else left to the cafeteria area. There was a confrontation that was way overdue.

As soon as I stepped out on to the slightly grimy linoleum floor of the lab, Bruce looked up and blanched before quickly shoving his papers and laptop into a satchel and bounding for the elevator before it closed behind me.

"Good luck," he muttered shakily. I nodded in thanks and a moment later he was gone. A quick look around told me that Tony must be in a back room somewhere, probably grabbing parts. In the background, Black Sabbath tinkled through the inlaid speaker system.

"Brucey, darling, do you want to go with blue or green for the new nanotech in Veronica? Or maybe purple, unless that would be too on the no-." He quickly cut himself off as he came waltzing around the corner of desks and displays to see me perched on his stool.

"Get out," he growled, standing stock still, shoulders tense. When I didn't move, he did, reaching for the minibar he had installed on the wall opposite me, pulling out a bottle of scotch and taking a swig.

"Well, if it's going to be that kind of party..." I drawled darkly before reaching down into my gym bag and pulling out my flask of bourbon and followed suit. Tony didn't exactly roll out the welcome wagon after that but he did seem to relax a bit. At the very least, he didn't summon what was left of the Iron Legion protocol to physically remove me from his presence.

"Why are you here, Kaida?" Tony finally asked, ice coating his words as they pierced into me in ways I wasn't expecting.

"Is it so odd for a former assassin to check up on her friends? I mean, it would be a shame to just throw everything away for a simple misunderstanding right? At the very least we have to work and live together. Unless you intend to kick me out?" I stared Tony down, waiting for that explosive anger that I knew he was trying to shove deep down.

"Oh Kaida, we were never friends. We fucked. But I'd fuck anything with two legs and a rack. I think you know that as well as I do. The only reason I ever gave up that life was Pepper and, well, you know exactly how that turned out."

"Again, not my doing. I was long gone by the time someone executed the hit they had on her."

"But you knew and you did nothing. Warned no one. You know, it's not like I'm hard to find. Literal skyscraper that used to have my name on it not stand out to you?"

"I-," I began, searching for any explanation for my inaction. As terrible as it was to admit, I'd simply never considered interfering with Hydras plans. I was much more concerned with keeping my sister and myself alive at the time.

"You know," Tony said, interrupting my frantic, guilty train of thought, "some kid once told me that when you have the powers and abilities that we do and do nothing, then the bad things that happen, they happen because of you. Maybe you should chew on that for a little while Kaida. I won't kick you out but I don't want to see your face around my space for a long while."

And then, like a switch flipped in my body, hot rage filled me. What did this entitled, rich snob know about being a kid my age and seeing the shit I'd seen? When he was my age he was partying every night and wrecking Bentley's and Aston Martin's like it was nothing, like nothing mattered to him at all.

"Maybe you should grow a pair then Stark. You're really angry, huh? Prove it. Fight me. Kick me out. We both know I can take it. You saw the bruises when I first moved in. Couldn't be missed with that lack of clothing when we first got acquainted. Do your worst."

Suddenly, he was in my face again, hatred and something else raged in his eyes. Maybe not hatred at me, but at the reaction I could always weasel out of him. Had been doing for my past few weeks at the Tower.

Stark slammed his bottle down on the desk right beside me before wrapping his hand through the hair at the back of my hair hard, twisting and pulling me forward before viciously kissing and biting my neck. It was painful but not in a way that made me inclined to push him away.

"God, I hate you so much," he said and he ripped my shirt up and over my head before taking a step back.

"Wanna be useful? Turn around and bend over the desk, hands behind your back. And don't move a muscle."

I did as he said, breath coming out in gasps.

Oh, this was bad.

Really bad.

Or maybe really good.


	11. Who I Am

The next day, I was reading the next book on my to- be -read list when Peter came screeching into the common room. "Cranewood!" He practically shrieked as he ran, hips first into the back of the couch I was lounging one. He miscalculated his own speed and toppled over the back, faceplanting right into my lap.

"Oh my god, oh my god, I'm so sorry I didn't-oh Jesus I'm so sorry. I just totally invaded your personal space and literally put my face there and oh my god." He cut his own self off and blushed so deep, the tips of his ears almost flowed red. Peter lkicked himself back up and adjusted his blue sweatshirt before running his hands through the hair on the back of his neck and refusing to make eye contact with me.

"Peter?"

"Y-yeah? Wwhat's up, Kaida,?" he managed to squeak out before coughing and clearing his throat, lowering his voice to compensate. I just stared back at him expectantly, dog-earring my page before slamming the book shut between my thighs. He blinked twice before shifting uncomfortably between feet. I swear, for an adult man, this boy sure acted like a gawky sophomore a lot.

"Oh. Oh yeah! We've met before. Cranewood School for Girls. Technically, you and Spider-Man met but... I'm hurt that you were never even going to mention the first time I saved your life. What's up with that? And also, how did a Hydra ghost end up on Long Island at an elite prep school for upstanding young women and-" I tuned him out unconsciously.

In truth, I had completely forgotten my run in with Spider-Man when I was 13. My sister and I were much too busy then still readjusting to a normal lifestyle we'd never had and covering our tracks while breaking enough laws to provide for ourselves, day in and day out.

Nadia had laundered enough money that wWe had more than enough for a down payment on a small apartment in the Long Island area and I was proficient enough in my mimicry and illusion work that we were able to enroll in school with a late start due to our "parents" and their extremely generous donations. It certainly helped that Nadia and I were both whip smart.

I remembered the day Spidey was talking about. Some jack -booted, Hydra thug had stormed the grounds and held my class hostage, because his primary target, Anna, who was the daughter of a senator, was my classmate. Luckily, she sat about as far away from me as possiblepopular so the Agent was never able to see my face. I didn't realize the whole upset was over until I had felt a large hand rubbing my back.

Of course, it was Spider-Man that came to my rescue. That day seemed to repeat itself over and over with no end sight. Of course, he was comforting me. His super hearing was the first power I'd ever assimilated by accident. We should test that more in the lab.

As I opened my mouth to finally suggest a battery of tests to Peter, FRIDAY started shouting instructions to be heard over the loud clang of the emergency bell.

Science could wait.


	12. Seems Like a Good Idea to Me

A few months later

The alarm cut through my concentration. It turned out to be just a bigger Code Green false alarm. We'd had two I.n the last week. I'm not blaming it on any specific individuals but there's was something to be said in the 200% uptick in near Code Green's since Dr. Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis, intern and mechanical engineer extraordinaire returned from Reykjavik. But who was I to complain? After they relocated to the Tower back in May, just three months ago, there were more Strawberry pop tarts in the pantries than I'd ever seen before in my life. And it was so relieving to have another 'devil may care' woman around the Tower.

Don't get me wrong, I love Natasha for all that she is but she's just a teacher to me. And Wanda reads as more of a mom friend in my mind. Darcy is the kind of girl you make up desperate housewives drinking games with. We gravitated toward each other immediately, bonding over baking, needling Tony, and the bemoaning the lack of clubbing appropriate company. She also held no judgment for me about my past, which I couldn't believe until I saw her and Bucky making googly eyes at each other from across the room, then it all clicked.

Darcy Lewis had become my best friend, big sister and closest confidant inand just a week's time. Now, a few months later, there were still no hydra threats and my probation was set to be lifted this evening. "The perfect time to go clubbing. " Darcy had declared it, before enlisting my strengths to remove, forcibly if necessary, the Sscience Ssquad from their labs. And then, to force them out into the world of the living. The only member to straight up refuse was Tony, as was expected. We had been… cCordial to one another but never anything more. I am nearly positive he had Friday keep tabs on my location just so he could avoid me at all times. Inevitably, we would run into each other cComing and going from our quarters or as we made our way to and from our designated lab spaces. I still didn't quite understand why Tony lived on the same floor as the rest of the avengers, when I knew damn well he had his own penthouse in the tower.

Anyways, my lab was certainly something to behold. The cCalling it my lab was a bit of a stretch considering I didn't build anything really, I just tested my powers and checked my biological markers with gadgets that Tony, Bruce, and Dr. Helen Cho had come up with together-. We were still waiting for a contact from the group called Tthe Gguardians who would potentialy he be able to determine what part alien I am.- But it was the world's most high tech library/relaxation room/artist's studio. All to make remaining in it all day for the sake of data aggregation tenable.

To say I was bored out of my mind at first was an understatement. But over time I began to have visitors. Darcy was a daily visitor, and surprisingly, so was Pietro. Peter and Bucky also visited, if less frequently. And, oddly enough, Vision was there almost all the time. I asked him about it once and he shrugged (how does a former AI program shrug so effectively) and simply stated that my presence calmedcombed his mind. Whatever that meant.

In any case, I wasn't as bored or lonely anymore. In fact, I could almost swear that something was developing between Pietro and I.

Earlier this week, as I was doing the Times word search and also projecting in my powers to deflect incoming projectiles, my hair was flipped up and into my face, causing my concentration to skip which led to a tennis balls smacking me right in the face. Above me Pietro burst out laughing and DUM-E beeped apologetically.

"I don't think I can forgive you for this," I deadpanned, reaching back to jab him in the kidney, which he promptly dodged, all the while still cackling. When his laughing fit finally subsided, he stood back up straight.

"I have an idea, " he announced proudly.

"Stop the presses everyone, and called the Vatican., Speedy here has an idea. It must be a miracle. First one in a decade. The world must be ending," I replied, looking at him and trying not to smirk. I will give him props, because the obscene shocked and hurt that filled his face moments later was almost convincing. He chuckled and moved to sit on the stool next to me. He said nothing, only staring at me.

"Okay Zippy, what was your big idea?"

"You haven't tested your instinctual and biological responses enough. For example, the fight or flight instinct is recreated too imperfectly in simulated situations to be of any use to you. However, there is another way around that beyond throwing yourself into open combat." I tilted my head, waiting for him to continue. He leaned forward placing his hands on my side and leaning closer. Hesitant but not opposed, my eyes fluttered chat. Instead of kissing me as I had assumed (hoped!) was his plan, I felt his lips brush against the shell of my ear. I shattered at the sensation, anticipating.

"I have a question, ", he whispered. I mumbled my acknowledgment and it took me a few seconds to process what he had said and by that time it was already too late. " are you ticklish?," he had whisper gently. Now he was mercilessly attacking my side with one, extremely quick fingers, whenever I moved to try to escape, he was there.

I collapsed to the ground, giggling breathlessly before I cut myself and put on my grumpy face. Pietro smiled lazily and shifted so his knees were on either side of my thighs.

" if you tickle me again, I'll scream," I warned him.

" I bet I could have you screaming my name," he replied cheesily.

" I actually hate you right now. I'm considering making you my official arch nemesis. I might make T-shirts. And badges. Definitely badges."

"Who's making badges? Didn't you know nemesis badges are so last season? This is why you should consult the great and powerful Darcy on all things," came the snarky voice of my best friend from the lab door. I urgently pushed Pietro up and off of me. But as was the theme of the day, I was seconds too late, and Darcy saw us in a position that looked extremely compromising without context.

She raised her eyebrows at me, cheeks twitching as she managed, for once, to hold back whatever retort she thought of once she saw me beneath Pietro. Instead, she readjusted herself and offered me a hand to pick me up off of the slightly dusty floor. I made a mental note to give DUM-E the swiffer tonight.

After I was back on my feet and thoroughly dusted off, Darcy approached the silver haired man who was currently leaning against one of my shoulder high bookshelves, jabbing her finger into his sternum. "You hurt my sister and I know an Asgardian who can make your life a living hell. And no, I'm not talking about Thor. Plus, you should be scared of me, I've bested him in combat once before and I can certainly take you. So watch yourself, Maximoff.," she growled before stomping away, grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me along behind her.

"We've talked about this," she hissed at me after her suite door slammed behind us. She'd been silent the entire elevator ride down to her floor. I loved Darcy but she was still a little paranoid about F.R.I.D.A.Y. always being present and listening in.

"Darcy it wasn't like that, he... tickled me?"

She snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, I bet he did. Looked like he wanted to do a lot more from where I was standing, kid. I'm telling you he's bad news. What do you see in him anyways?"

I scoffed at her insinuation that somehow, Pietro would be the rotten one between us. "Dee, I was literally sleeping with Tony Stark a few months ago while I had intimate knowledge of his fiancés fate. Plus, I'm not exactly innocent in literally any sense oif the word..." I trailed off but she just glared at me, which was her way of telling me that we weren't leaving until I answered all of her questions.

I sighed and plopped myself down on her cozy arm chair, putting my feet up. "It's just... he's easy to be around, Darcy. It's not hard, I don't have to think about anything twice, there's no pressure. He's funny, makes me smile, puts up with my shit. And he doesn't want more from me than I'm willing to give. We're as easy as breathing." I blinked, shocked at the words that had just come out of my mouth. Sure, I would admit to having a crush on the guy, he was hot and snarky. I loved that. Wait, love? I really was losing my mind.

"You know what, forget anything I just said. Let's go out clubbing, like you suggested and find me a man to get under for the night. I have to blow off some steam. I'm delusional and sappy over here."

Darcy shrugged, noncommittally. "What?!" I demanded, confused as all hell.

"If you really feel that way about him, you should tell him. He may not be pushing you to give more than you're ready for, but is he going to be prepared to give you everything you want, or is he just here for the safe convenience of it, Kaida? You two have been prancing around each other like orphaned fawns, afraid to let yourselves get hurt and calling it sacrifice for the other. Or maybe he just doesn't care and wants to play dirty because you're available and convenient. "

I was a little hurt at her words but I could see the truth behind them. It was time Pietro and I had a chat. But not before I went out and had fun with my best friend. I relayed that thought to Darcy who excitedly squealed as we plotted to get the Science Squad outr and about with us.

That brings us to now. Several of us piling into the biggest kink I'd ever seen. Bruce, Jane, Nat, Clint, Thor, Wanda, Pietro, Sam, Helen, the super soldiers, and even Peter had elected to join Darcy and I out tonight. It was certainly going to be one for the history books.

And like all great historical nights, it started with tequila and would end in the biggest mistake of someone's life.


End file.
